 Chronos
Chronos is a mesmering visual experience.
I first saw it at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and was happy when it came out on DVD.
The music is haunting and merges with your brain wave pattern and the visual aspects are fascinating. The primus is life out of balance. It is now in blue ray but was not when I first saw it.
New age IMAX still cutting edge today.
5 Star Chronos New age IMAX still cutting edge today.
3 Star Baraka Too weird to handle.
This is the same review I'm combining for the comparison of both Chronos and Baraka.
CHRONOS & BARAKA
These programs are visual displays of majestic landmarks, people, cultures, and wonders of the world. If you want to watch TV, but don't feel like watching TV, these are the way to go. No thinking, no storyline, just relax and let your imagination go. It's a revolutionary new age type of artistic display. They can be watched repeatedly without boredom, like a music CD.
DIGITAL PICTURE QUALITY
All the negative rap I read about regarding picture quality of the CHRONOS blu ray transfer held me back from purchasing. But recently, I took a leap of faith upgrading my old dvd copy, and whala! I was absolutely amazed at the stunning BD picture quality! Full 1080p high def detail. Sure, there are a few jitters and artifacts, but nothing like the bad taste others had elaborated on. Perhaps the reviewers were spoiled with the Baraka standard, which any BD transfer will pale to. But Chronos is definitely acceptable, and considering this IMAX is 3 decades old, this blu ray is a huge improvement and well worth the upgrade from dvd.
BARAKA
As far as the content of Baraka, the major problem I have are those bizarre African tribe ritual scenes. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but I'd much rather see this in a documentary, with a narrator describing this cultural meaning. Ie, teach me. OK, I see the point of Baraka is appreciation of art, but without the explanation, these weird clips leave me in a state of mysterious void of confusion. Perhaps Baraka should have a 2nd audio channel or subtitle. Same goes with the shots of the homeless and inner city trash: BORING, and disgusting. Homeless people and trash on 1080p is not art.
ART
Chronos is Baraka minus the weird tribal rituals. Chronos is 100% sheer art in its original Ron Flicke form. Every scene, second, and breath has power, deep thoughts and emotions attached to it, can be watch numerously, anytime. Chronos blu ray also includes 3 invaluable features not on Baraka. 1) Global location pop up, 2) Annotations pop up of detailed features of each location, and 3) Director's audio commentary.
I give Chronos blu ray 5 star, and Baraka blu ray 3 stars.
 Great for a background...
I bought this on HD-DVD based on the strength of others' reviews. I have to say...I'm a little disappointed (but not too much). The time lapse photography is breathtaking at times, the accompanying music is well matched. However, it has been approximately 25 years since this was made, and the visuals that were unbelievable in the 80s are far more commonplace today. The clarity is perfectly suited for 1080p HD, as is the rich soundtrack.
Chronos provides great background visuals and music for a more formal dinner party of get together; it's not particularly fitting for "let's go watch Chronos!" As background or filler, it's great. As the main feature, it's a little slow and uninspiring for me.
Weird yet Trippy Movie!
It's a movie I should be watching to do a Humanities project on. It goes through time staring at different scenes and crazy music,it has no real point. It's a perfect movie if your not in your right mind and your into that sort of thing.=)
 Poor BD Transfer
While Baraka on BD is astounding, a must-have, the quality of the BD transfer seems little better than DVD. Obviously the same care that went into the Baraka transfer was not taken with this title. Price not withstanding, the BD version should have been so much better. If you already have the DVD, I wouldn't bother upgrading. If you already have Baraka on BD, I would not recommend buying this title on BD. It's going to disappoint. If the transfer had been better, this would have been a good buy. The content is not bad. Bottom line: Skip this one and buy Baraka on BD.
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